Hilaire Belloc
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Share this
Hilaire Belloc
by Daphne Pollen (née Baring)
chalk, 1932
12 1/2 in. x 9 1/2 in. (318 mm x 241 mm)
Purchased, 1956
Primary Collection
NPG 4008
Sitterback to top
- (Joseph) Hilaire Pierre Belloc (1870-1953), Author and poet. Sitter associated with 17 portraits.
This portraitback to top
In 1956, the artist Daphne Pollen wrote of her portrait of the writer, Hilaire Belloc, 'The drawing was made in January 1932 ... while he was sitting for my husband [the sculptor Arthur Pollen] for a bust. He liked the drawing & remarked “No man knows what he looks like but that drawing is alive”. He thought the nose too 'bombé' & said it looked like “Blake having a vision.” He had been dictating to a secretary throughout the sittings & made no attempt to sit still. He seemed to be engaged on a different book or article at each sitting. His family & friends seemed to think the drawing was a good likeness. He had a collotype reproduction made of the drawing ... & gave copies to some of his friends.'
Linked publicationsback to top
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 48
Events of 1932back to top
Current affairs
Sir Oswald Mosley forms the British Union of Fascists. Mosley's party - nicknamed the Black Shirts after their uniform - was founded along the lines of Mussolini's Fascist Party in Italy and called for the replacement of parliamentary democracy with a system of elected executives. During the war Mosley was interned and the BUF was proscribed.Art and science
John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton 'split the atom'. In fact, Cockcroft and Walton's achievement was to change the nucleus of one element into another by bombarding it with protons, rather than to literally spit an atom apart. Nevertheless 'splitting the atom' has become the popular way of describing this important stage in the development of nuclear technology.International
Saudi Arabia is formed by the unification of the Kingdoms of Hijaz and Nejd under King Abdul Aziz.Iraq is granted independence from the British mandate established by the League of Nations in 1919-20.
Comments back to top
We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.
If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.
